A novel nanofibrous composite scaffold composed of super-paramagnetic γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles (MNP), hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (nHA) and poly lactide acid (PLA) was prepared using electrospinning technique. The scaffold well responds extern static magnetic field with typical saturation magnetization value of 0.049 emu/g as well as possesses nanofibrous architecture. The scaffolds were implanted in white rabbit model of lumbar transverse defects. Permanent magnets are fixed in the rabbit cages to provide static magnetic field for the rabbits post surgery. Results show that MNP incorporated in the nanofibers endows the scaffolds super-paramagnetic responsive under the applied static magnetic field, which accelerates new bone tissue formation and remodeling in the rabbit defect. The scaffold also exhibits good compatibility of CK, Cr, ALT and ALP within normal limits in the serum within 110 days post implantation. In conclusion, the super-paramagnetic responding scaffold with applying of external magnetic field provides a novel strategy for scaffold-guided bone repair.

Human A-defensin-1 (HNP1), a small antimicrobial peptide, shows cytotoxicity to tumor cells in vitro and inhibitory activity for pathologic neovascularization in vivo. Here, we did a gene therapy with a plasmid that expresses a secretable form of HNP1 for assaying its antitumor activity. The expression and secretion of HNP1 were determined by reverse transcription-PCR and ELISA in vitro. We found that expression of HNP1 in A549 tumor cells caused significant growth inhibition. This effect is most likely cell autonomous, as a significant amount of recombinant HNP1 protein was found to be accumulated in the cytoplasm by immunohistochemical staining using an anti-HNP1 antibody and the supernatant containing secreted HNP1 failed to produce any noticeable antitumor activity. Flow cytometry and Hoechst 33258 staining showed that the number of apoptotic cells among the A549 cells expressing recombinant HNP1 proteins was significantly greater than that of the nontransfected control cultures, suggesting that this growth-inhibitory activity was due to an apoptotic mechanism triggered by the intracellular HNP1. The antitumor activity of intracellularly expressed HNP1 was also shown in vivo. Decreased microvessel density and increased lymphocyte infiltration were observed in tumor tissue from HNP1-treated mice through histologic analysis. These results indicate that intracellularly expressed HNP1 induces tumor cell apoptosis, which inhibits tumor growth. The antiangiogenesis effect of HNP1 may contribute to its inhibitory activity in vivo, and HNP1 might involve the host immune response to tumor. These findings provide a rationale for developing HNP1-based gene therapy for cancer. [Mol Cancer Ther 2008;7(6):1588 -97]

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ObjectiveAnimals underwent combined general-epidural anesthesia (EGA) is reported to have better long-time outcome than general anesthesia (GA). This study aimed to make overall evaluation of the association between these two anesthetic techniques and prognosis of cancer patients undergoing surgery.MethodsRelated databases such as PubMed and EMbase were searched for eligible studies that evaluated the influence of EGA and GA on the prognosis of cancer patients undergoing surgery. Selected studies were evaluated according to the inclusion criteria by two reviewers respectively, followed by data extraction and quality assessment. The odds ratio (OR) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the influence strength of EGA and GA on prognosis of cancer patients.ResultsA total of ten studies involving 3254 patients were included. The overall results demonstrated that there was no significant difference between EGA and GA group (OR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.73 to 1.06, P = 0.187) concerning postoperative recurrence and metastasis rate. In regard to the following two factors: cancer category and time of follow-up, subgroup analysis identified significant differences between EGA and GA in the group of patients with prostate cancer and the group with follow-up less than or equal to two years (OR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.95, P = 0.027; OR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.98, P = 0.035; respectively) concerning postoperative recurrence and metastasis rate. However, no significant difference was found in the group of patients with colorectal cancer (OR = 1.06, 95% CI 0.84–1.33, P = 0.62).ConclusionsThis meta-analysis showed that EGA might be associated with improvement in prognosis of patients with operable prostate cancer and the cancer patients with follow-up less than or equal to two years. However, no obvious relationship between the improvement in prognosis of colorectal cancer and EGA were detected, comparing to GA. Furthermore, all the results should be interpreted cautiously, as heterogeneous data were used for analyzing.